Will Commanders QB Marcus Mariota Effectively Mentor Rookie QB?

With the Washington Commanders expected to draft a quarterback early, veteran Marcus Mariota will be looked upon to mentor the rookie.

ORLANDO -- The last time new Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota was a starting quarterback was in the 2022 NFL season when he was the veteran ahead of rookie Desmond Ridder.

After a 5-8 start, however, Mariota was removed as a starter and eventually completely left the team altogether leading some to question whether or not he'll be an effective mentor for a new Commanders quarterback expected to land this April.

We sat down with Daniel Flick of Falcon Report to find out if those concerns are warranted, or shortsighted, because Washington certainly seems to believe Mariota will be a fine mentor for their rookie-to-be.

Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder

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"He was a very impactful leader," Flick told us. "He and Ridder had a very good working relationship with each other. I recall last year several times when you'd have Ridder mention, 'I learned this from Marcus, and I learned how to watch film. I learned how to read opponents and how they'd attack me,' and things of that nature. Just that process of learning how to be a pro. I think Ridder learned a lot from, and you could kind of see when he took over, he was very complimentary of the job that Marcus did in terms of that process of helping prepare him for that moment...He was a capable (and) competent quarterback by the end of his rookie year, probably ahead of schedule, in part because of the help that I think Mariota (provided) him throughout that time there."

Flick also reiterated some of the same things Mariota himself pointed to in Netflix's popular Quarterback docuseries that came out following the 2022 season.

"During the bye week, my daughter was born, Makaia. When she was born, Art brought me in… the following day. It was, like, talking about the future and kind of what he wanted to do, and they told me that they were going to play Des for the last four games," Mariota said in the show. "Initially, he had said, 'At this point and time in the year, the playoffs are a long shot, and we just kind of want to see what Des can do.'"

It was at that point Mariota opted to leave the team and have season-ending knee surgery believing he was, as he put it, "making a good decision for everybody."

"The way that the exit kind of happened was not what anybody in the organization wanted, obviously, but he did have his reasons," Flick also said. "He had valid reasons that I think you can look at and you can respect them. And I think a lot of people in that room kind of recognized that, and I think that's important. The other part of it is that when Mariota was there, he was a very impactful mentor."